Why I Canceled My Band’s Show at the Kennedy Center

I knew I’d get backlash for speaking out against Trump’s takeover. But I did it anyway.

Credit: Low Cut Connie via Facebook

By Adam Weiner

I just released a protest album. And it’s really kicking up some dust. I’ve had gigs cancelled on me. I’ve had death threats. I’ve lost fans. Never in my life did I think I would do something like this. There have been days when I’ve asked myself, “What have I done?”

You see, when I started my band Low Cut Connie 15 years ago, it was just about fun and a pure, wild rock ‘n roll energy. It was not about politics. It was not about activism. It was not about ruffling anyone’s feathers.

I amassed a big diverse fanbase: gay and straight, black and white, old and young. And although at times I would speak on issues that I cared about, I was often nervous about it. I had both liberal and conservative fans, and I wanted to keep people at the table while getting messages across through my music.

But over the years, the country has changed, and I have changed. I’ve been traveling the country, playing everywhere and hearing about people’s lives and their struggles. Low Cut Connie has played everywhere from Pride month events, to dive bars, to punk clubs, to county fairs. We co-headlined with rappers, country singers, drag queens, and hardcore punk bands. We entertained every crowd with love, humor, and reckless abandon.

And during all that time, I’ve seen the country at large become less safe, less free, less inclusive, poorer, and more violent. We have descended into a moral vacuum, and—most sadly to me—a place where art does not lead the cultural conversation.

At the end of 2024, 14 years into the band’s touring, we were invited to do a show at the Kennedy Center. It was supposed to be part of what was called the Social Impact Series, highlighting performers who foster “positive social change” and elevate “voices of diversity and inclusion.” I was absolutely honored to be asked to be a part of this series at such an esteemed institution.

But then things changed.

I saw the announcement that the Trump administration was taking over the Kennedy Center. And that there was an intention to install the president as chairman. I immediately called my agents and told them to cancel my show. I knew that the mission of the Social Impact Series would be thwarted, as well as the core ethos of the Kennedy Center. I wanted no part of it. So I cancelled.

In the wake of my cancellation, I received a massive amount of support, but also some small amount of nasty, targeted threatening messages. Soon after, I released a somber protest song called “Livin in the USA,” in which I spoke about ICE, authoritarianism, racism, and a lack of moral character in America. Rolling Stone named it one of the 25 best protest songs against the administration.

This got me in a fair amount of trouble. I received violent threats and show cancellations. A county commissioner in Pennsylvania called my music “propaganda.” Fox News and other conservative media did hit pieces on me. I had to consult with security professionals for my safety.

But my tour went on. I continued to do my shows, including the many free civic events we do in the summer, where I meet and talk with so many different people in states all over the country. I was reminded yet again of how soulful the American spirit can be, despite the daily persecutions and criminality we witness.

There were many people who advised me to stop singing “Livin in the USA” and to stop speaking onstage about diversity and inclusion. But I’m from Philly—you can’t tell me not to do something! So I decided to re-do “Livin in the USA“ as a blaring rock n’ roll song and build a whole protest record around it.

And now, a year later, that record is out in the world, and making quite a splash. We are in the Top 40 on multiple radio charts. We’ve gotten amazing reviews and coverage from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NPR, and many more. We also performed on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

I have indeed lost some fans, and had a couple people walk out of my show at about half the shows on our tour. But I feel absolutely centered in my purpose on this album. And in recent interviews—with Weekend Edition and Rolling Stone, for instance—I have shed any inhibitions I have ever had about speaking about my values and my activism directly and with a clear voice.

I must give a lot of credit to the many dozens of radio stations around the country that got behind this record, even when it has brought some of them complaints and blowback from their listeners and donors. Art must lead the way. Art must retake the lead in the cultural conversation.

This country invented rock ‘n roll, hip hop, jazz, and R&B. Music with soul communicates on a level that no algorithm or tech bro or artificial intelligence or political machinery can ever understand or contain. America created these table-flipping art forms. Rock ‘n roll is a table-flipping art form.

It’s time to flip the table again.

Adam Weiner is the frontman of the band Low Cut Connie. He lives in Philadelphia.